Make Every Day Count
by Bob Gaudi
“Be very careful then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity…” –Eph. 5:15-16a
How do we make every day count? Let’s start with fearing the Lord. Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” To fear the Lord is to have a loving reverence for God that includes obedient submission to His lordship (acknowledging Him as our sovereign God), and belief in His promises. Fearing God naturally leads to a desire to walk in obedience and to submit to His sovereignty as the ruler over all creation. Our ability to walk in obedience is anchored by what Jesus, through the grace of God, has already done for us. Jesus Christ in obedience to the Father, died for us so that we may live. Truly fearing the Lord entails a profound commitment to live for Him and His purposes. Just as surely as we live, we can strive to live for Him as Jesus lived to die for us.
Humans tend to suffer from an aversion to living for others—we lean toward selfishness. It is not always easy to put others before ourselves, and it takes a concerted effort on our part to be unselfish. However, regardless of the difficulty in that effort and surrendering to God’s plan, our selfish earthly ways must take a secondary role to God’s divine scheme for us. We need to see things from His perspective. As Proverbs 16:9 points out, we may plan our path, but God determines our steps. Seeing, understanding, and acting on that perspective in a godly way is at the heart of wisdom where we learn to walk wisely in His ways. When we walk wisely, putting Him and others before ourselves, we can make every day count and make the most of every opportunity we are given (Eph. 5:15-16).
Part of making every day count is realizing we are on God’s time, not ours. God gifts us a finite amount of time to use, and He invites us to use it wisely for His purposes. A problem can occur when we float along in our individual comfort zones and fail to realize His time is not really ours. The time He gives us is easy to squander; pursuing our plan rather than His. We should use our God-given time wisely, and not waste what God has so graciously given all of us. Remember, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Eph. 2:10). Step out and move forward in service to God and others. Make the living Lord the center of your life and shine your light for others to see.
I think this line of thought ties in with our Next Step of faith. Following Jesus’ steps as we are called to do (1 Peter 2:21) requires fearing God and honoring Him through obedience and living our lives in accordance with His will. Stepping up and stepping out for Jesus through faith truly requires us to make every day count and use our time wisely. By actively stepping out for Jesus, we honor God, showing that we truly fear Him. Through His grace, God provides everything we have and need. Wisely using what we have graciously been given, especially our time serving God and others with and through generosity and lovingkindness, truly honors God. Philippians 2:3-4 says it well; we are to consider others first, looking to their interest as well as our own.
That is what we are doing in our Next Step of faith, building a future for our church and those coming after us. Therefore friends, I hope you agree, it is time for all of us to step out of our comfort zones by stepping up for Jesus. Please don’t delay, for the time is now and the time is not ours.
Heavenly Father, we know that You are our sovereign Lord and that You lead us along the path You would have us take. Help us to live our lives for You in loving obedience to You and Your plan and help us to use Your gift of time wisely for Your purposes. Empower and enable us through Your Spirit to step up to serve You and others as we follow Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.